Pope E. M. For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight; Byron, Don Juan, 1. 83. To seek somewhere else a more orthodox bliss? No! perish the hearts and the laws that would try Truth, valour, or love, by a standard like this. Moore, Ir. Mel To prove (what we've long prov'd perhaps) There's lots of Christians to be had In this, the nineteenth, just as mad! Moore, Twop. Post Bag. BILLING-see Kissing. Still amorous, and fond, and billing, Like Philip and Mary on a shilling. Butler, Hud. III. 1. 687. BILLS. Dreading that climax of all human ills, BIOGRAPHER. After my death I wish no other herald, Byron, Don Juan. way, Byron, Don Juan. But such an honest chronicler as Griffith. Sh. Hen. VIII, VI. 2. BIRDS. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark, Sh. Mer. Ven. v. 1. But, like the birds, great nature's happy commoners, Yet scorn to ask the lordly owner's leave. Rowe, Fair Pen. 11. 3. BIRDS-continued. BIRDS-BIRTHDAY. Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one But cawing rooks, and kites that swim sublime That hails the nightly moon, have charms for men. 51 Cowper, Task, B. I. Who from the corn fields drive the insidious foe, Renders good service as your men-at-arms, Crushing the beetle in his coat of mail, And crying havoc on the slug and snail. Longfellow, Birds of K. BIRTH-see Descent, Pedigree. Let high birth triumph! what can be more great ? To virtue's humblest son let none prefer Vice, though descended from the Conqueror. Young, L.F.1.141. I've learned to judge of men by their own deeds, I do not make the accident of birth The standard of their merit. BIRTHDAY. Is that a birthday? 'tis alas too clear, Mrs. Hale. 'Tis but the funeral of the former year. Pope, to Mrs. M. B. My birthday!-what a different sound That word had in my youthful ears; And now each time the day comes round, Another year! another leaf Is turned within life's volume brief, Moore. Hoffman, Am. Mrs. Hale, Am. 52 BLACKGUARDS. BLACKGUARDS-BLINDNESS. They each pull'd different ways, with many an oath, "Arcades ambo," id est-blackguards both. Byron, D. J. Iv.93. BLASPHEMY. Great men may jest with saints; 'tis wit in them; But, in the less, foul profanation. Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy. Sh. M. for M. 11. 2. That in the captain's but a choleric word, Should each blasphemer quite escape the rod, Pope. BLESSINGS-see Benediction. Angels preserve my dearest father's life; O, still my fervent prayer will be, Oh! happiness of blindness, now no beauty Draws my respect; nor poverty, my scorn; O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon; Otway, Rowe. Miss Gould. Denham, Sophy. Milton, Samson Agonistes. O, loss of sight, of thee I most complain! Blind among enemies, O worse than chains, Light, the prime work of God, to me's extinct, And all her various objects of delight Annull'd, which might in part my grief have eas'd. Ib. S. A. BLINDNESS-BLUNTNESS. BLINDNESS-continued. Thus with the year Seasons return, but not to me returns Of nature's works, to me expung'd and raised, 53 And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. Milton, P. L. 111. 40. To outward view of blemish or of spot, BLISS-see Happiness. Milton, Sonnet XXII. 1. Pope. Condition, circumstance, is not the thing, The spider's most attenuated web Is cord, is cable, to man's tender tie On earthly bliss; it breaks at every breeze. Young, N. T. 1. 178. Alas! the heart that inly bleeds, Has nought to fear from outward blows; Who falls from all he knows of bliss, Cares little into what abyss. BLUE. O, "darkly, deeply, beautifully blue," As some one somewhere sings about the sky. BLUNTNESS. Rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, Byron. Byron, Don Juan, Iv. 110. Which gives men stomach to digest his words I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Sh. Jul. C. I. 2. Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, To stir men's blood: I only speak right on. Sh. Jul. C. 111. 2. These kind of knaves I know, which in their plainness Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends, Than twenty silly duckling observants, That stretch their duties nicely. Sh. Lear, 11. 2. 54 BLUNTNESS- BOASTING. BLUNTNESS-continued. 'Tis not enough your counsel still be true; BLUSHING Pope. E. C. 572. A crimson blush her beauteous face o'erspread, Parnell. Rowe, Tamerlane. The rising blushes, which her cheek o'erspread, Gay, Dione, 11. 3. Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame. With every change his features played, Though looks and words, Pope. Scott, Rokeby, 111. 5. By the strong mastery of his practised will, Playful blushes, that seem naught BOASTING- -see Braggart. Southey. Moore. The empty vessel makes the greatest sound. Sh. Hen. V. VI. 4. The man that once did sell the lion's skin, While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him. Ib. iv. 3. What cracker is this same, that deafs our ears With this abundance of superfluous breath? Sh. K. John, 11. 1. Here's a large mouth, indeed, That spits forth death, and mountains, rocks, and seas; Talks as familiarly of roaring lions, As maids of thirteen do of puppy dogs. Nay, an thou'lt mouth, I'll rant as well as thou. A mad-cap ruffian, and a swearing jack, Sh. K. John, II. 2. Sh. Ham. v. 1 That thinks with oaths to face the matter out. Sh. Tam. S. II. 1. The honour is overpaid, When he that did the act is commentator. Shirley. We rise in glory, as we sink in pride: Where boasting ends, there dignity begins. Young, N. T. 8. |